Appendix:Spanish–Tagalog relations

This appendix discusses the relations between the Spanish and Tagalog languages.

Spanish loanwords in Tagalog
Owing to the 333 years of Spanish rule, Spanish loanwords forms the largest number of borrowings in Tagalog. 20.4% of Tagalog vocabulary used in everyday conversations come from Spanish (the percentage is slightly higher for Cebuano).

Most Tagalog loanwords from Spanish are phoneme-by-phoneme respellings of the original Spanish, but some earlier borrowings were corrupted or undergone sound change as they were assimilated into Tagalog, to the point their Spanish origin is no longer apparent to Tagalog speakers. Such examples (in standard spelling unless otherwise noted) are:


 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish, of Taíno origin)
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from early modern Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from early modern Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish, of Nahuatl origin)
 * (from early modern Spanish )
 * (from early modern Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish /, of Nahuatl origin)
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )

Some later borrowings from Spanish were also corrupted or undergone sound shifts that slightly hide their roots. Common changes were deletion of a syllable, sound shifts, or addition of prothetic letters:


 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish la )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )
 * (from Spanish )

There are also instances of Tagalog doublets from the same Spanish etymon. The first one is usually an early borrowing that undergone sound shifts or alterations upon borrowing (or reflected early modern Spanish pronunciation), while the second is a later borrowing from around the 19th century. These may have the same meaning or have completely different definitions.


 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )
 * and (from Spanish )

Spanish spelling is generally phonemic, with good sound-to-spelling correspondences, and Tagalog spelling is also phonemic. Spanish-to-Tagalog spelling correspondences in loanwords (excluding corruptions or sound shifts) are:


 * C (before most consonants except H and before A, O and U) -> K (e.g. -> )
 * C (before E and I) -> S (e.g. -> )
 * F -> P (in most borrowings, e.g. -> ), F (in newer borrowings, e.g. )
 * H -> disappears (in most borrowings, e.g. -> ). Some Spanish borrowings keep this, especially early borrowings and some others (including borrowed derivative forms), reflecting a older pronunciation, or to avoid confusion with another similar word.
 * J -> H (e.g. -> ).
 * LL -> Y (in pre-1800 borrowings e.g. -> ), LY (in post-1800 borrowings e.g.  -> )
 * Ñ -> NY ( -> )
 * QU -> K ( -> )
 * RR -> R ( -> )
 * V -> B (in most loanwords, -> ), V (in newer borrowings)
 * X -> KS (in most loanwords, -> )
 * Z -> S (in most borrowings, e.g. ->,  -> ), Z (in newer borrowings)
 * I or U in a diphthong is either kept with the semivowels Y or W added between the vowels or replaced with Y (see Appendix:Tagalog spellings)

Due to this, Spanish continues to be a source for many borrowings in Tagalog even after the Spaniards left, the Philippines lost most of its Spanish speakers and English has been the next main source of loanwords. This is especially true for English words with a Latinate or Romance derivation where there is a Spanish word that is close in spelling (excluding pseudo-Hispanisms), and translations of concepts and technologies that appeared from the 20th century (when Spanish was still the predominant language of the Filipino elite).

Tagalog loanwords in Spanish
Spanish also borrowed some words from Tagalog, usually related to plants and animals native to the Philippines.

The following Tagalog-derived words are listed in the Diccionario de la Real Academía Española (DRAE).


 * - from
 * - from earlier, since reborrowed
 * - from
 * - from
 * - from
 * - from

Alphabet and spelling
The first Latin-script orthography for Tagalog was based on Spanish. Called the abecedario, it has the following features:


 * /k/ is spelled C before A, O and U, and QU before E and I (e.g. for modern,  for )
 * /ɡ/ is spelled G before A, O and U, and GU before E and I. (e.g. for modern )
 * /h/ is spelled H, but is pronounced unlike in modern Spanish. Early modern Spanish pronounced the H.
 * /ŋ/ between vowels is spelled ÑG, NG̃, N͠G, GÑ. Tagalog intervocalic NG, without tilde in the G or N, could be pronounced as the consonant cluster /ng/ [ŋɡ], as in Spanish; this was also used in Tagalog words now spelled with NGG (e.g. was then ).
 * /u/ is often exchanged for O, especially in initial and medial syllables. U was generally used for /w/. (e.g. for modern )
 * /w/ is spelled U (e.g. for modern,  for ,  for )
 * /au/ [aʊ̯] is spelled with AO (e.g. for modern )
 * Spanish loanwords are kept in original spelling, with possible exceptions such as with early assimilated loanwords.
 * CH, LL and RR are treated as their own letters.
 * /kh/ is spelled with C-H (e.g. for modern ), the hyphen indicating it is a consonant cluster and not a digraph.
 * Indication of stress is based on Spanish rules. Final glottal stops (which or which many not be accompanied by stress) are indicated by a grave or circumfixed accent, but they tend to be interchangeable across publications.

Similar orthographies were also developed for the other Philippine languages, most of which have commonalities with the Spanish-based Tagalog orthography.

The abecedario alphabet was since replaced by the 21-letter, which adapted K and W and dropped C, F, J, Q, V, X, and Z (except in proper nouns or unadapted borrowings), but retained Ñ (comes before NG, and generally used in proper nouns). Abakada was since succeeded by the 28-letter modern Filipino alphabet which is the basic 26-letter Latin alphabet plus Ñ and NG.

Personal names
Most ethnic Tagalog given names (first names) and surnames (last names) are borrowed from Spanish or spelled in Spanish orthography. There are many Spanish-derived given names. The same applies to most Filipinos, except Muslim Filipinos or Moros.

Most Tagalogs bear Spanish or Iberian surnames. Most of these were either adopted upon conversion to Christianity such as surnames of religious roots, like or  (reference to the cross as well as John of the Cross),,  and   (references to the saints) and  (reference to Saint Nicholas of Tolentino), or introduced through a 1849 colonial decree, such as most other common Spanish-origin surnames such as , , , , , etc. Many of the religious-origin surnames were targeted for replacement for causing confusion among the Spanish colonial administrators, but most of which remained common. Other surnames which may or may not be in the 1849 decree are willingly adapted by prominent families (usually local nobles), as well as their patrons.

Tagalog also has its indigenous surnames, many of which are spelled in Spanish orthography or Spanish-based Tagalog orthography (e.g. the common Batangas Tagalog surnames, , and ), but only a few of them date back before 1849. Many of these also have assimilated forms using only letters of the abakada (e.g., , ), or are spelled in a combination of Spanish and Tagalog rules (e.g. , ).

Filipino naming in general follow the Western order of first name-middle name-last name, but middle names usually refer to the maternal surname than a secondary first name, carrying on from the Spanish naming tradition. Western middle names in its general sense of secondary first name are treated as part of the first name in the Philippines.

Most Tagalog (and Filipinos in general) bear multiple first names, as similar with Spanish speakers.

Place names
Many place names in Tagalog regions come from Spanish or spelled in Spanish orthography.

Spanish names of provinces, cities and municipalities of Tagalog origin
Many names of provinces, cities and municipalities of Tagalog origin came via Spanish, most of which has been reborrowed into Tagalog. Unless otherwise noted or written with accents, the name is the one universally used across Spanish, Tagalog and English:

Provinces
 * (Bataan)
 * - from.
 * (Tagalog: )
 * (Tagalog or ) - from.

Cities and municipalities
 * Antipolo - from
 * Bacoor - from
 * - from . The Abakada-based is commonly used in both English and Tagalog since 2022 (following its cityhood); the municipality prescribes this as the correct spelling. Previous preferred usage is the.
 * - from
 * - see Bulacan above
 * - from.
 * - from.
 * - from
 * - from . The Tagalog name is either Spanish-based or the Abakada-based.
 * - from
 * - from
 * - from
 * (Tagalog: ) - from Maynila. The English name came via Spanish. Other major Philippine languages also borrows the Spanish.
 * - from
 * - from may
 * (also Tagalog ) - from
 * - from earlier . Present Tagalog name is the same as with Spanish, which is a corruption of the earlier form.
 * - from
 * Taguig - from.
 * Taguig - from.

Since proper nouns do not need to be respelled phonemically, where marked, both the unassimilated and assimilated forms are valid. Common usage prefer the unassimilated reborrowing.

Tagalog place names from Spanish
Many place names in Tagalog come from Spanish, which includes the ubiqitous names, , , and. Names of prominent individuals (usually their surname) are also a source of some other common names, (e.g. after Ferdinand Magellan,  after Ferdinand VI of Spain,  after José Rizal,  after Marcelo H. del Pilar,  after Manuel L. Quezon,  from Manuel Roxas). Like with Spanish-derived personal names, these are written without accents (except the tilde in Ñ, which is retained) and are normally not respelled into native Tagalog orthography unlike loanwords.

The name of the Philippines in Tagalog,, is borrowed from Spanish , so are (demonym) and  (Standard Tagalog as national language, or a synonym of Tagalog).

Pseudo-Hispanisms
While most Tagalog loanwords come from Spanish, some of these are not really Spanish, but as pseudo-Hispanisms, also known as "" words (as referred to by writer Virgilio S. Almario who also served as head of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino), usually in the form of English-Spanish hybrid words which has been attributed to increasing illiteracy in standard Spanish in the Philippines and the desire by speakers to sound like speaking Spanish. Linguistic prescription aside, these words can alternatively be seen as assimilation of English loanwords by using Spanish influence. Examples are:


 * contemporary - (correct loan from Spanish: *kontemporanyo from ). Spanish has, but did not exist yet nor thought to be synonymous as kontemporaryo came out as a pseudo-Hispanism of  contemporary.
 * image - (correct loan from Spanish:  from )
 * endorse - (correct loan from Spanish: *endoso from, first-person singular form of )

The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino provides better guidance on the treatment of English loanwords as they enter Tagalog, and is covered at Appendix:Tagalog orthography. KWF also provide ways to deal with pseudo-Hispanisms:


 * Use equivalent actual Spanish loanword (e.g. for imahe)
 * Borrow the English (image)
 * Use an existing native word (e.g. for imahe)

Linguistic prescription aside, some words deemed pseudo-Hispanic are included in the major monolingual Tagalog dictionaries such as UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino (and its online equivalent Diksiyonaryo.ph) and the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino's Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino.



Some common Tagalog words may be considered to be pseudo-Hispanisms under their common usage at present but can be attributed to other linguistic phenomenon such as semantic borrowing and semantic drift. One example is, which acquired its most common sense of "college" during the American colonial era; it already existed with its original meaning in Spanish of "secondary school". Some commonly used Spanish loanwords may be seen as mere borrowings from English by some Filipinos out of historical ignorance.

Affixes
Tagalog (and other major Philippine languages, like Cebuano) also have borrowed affixes from Spanish to create new words from existing roots. Some examples are:


 * (e.g., from noun root .)
 * / (e.g., from adjective ; , from noun )
 * (e.g., from noun root .)
 * / (e.g., from adjective ; , from noun )
 * / (e.g., from adjective ; , from noun )

Semantic shifts and false friends
Some Spanish borrowings have gained new definitions as they entered Tagalog, and also resulted in false friends. Below are several Spanish borrowings that acquired a new meaning as they entered Tagalog, including cases where the Spanish loanword is corrupted.